What's your favorite pistol powder?

3515 Views 15 Replies 8 Participants Last post by pokute, Jan 26, 2015

SWThomas

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2013

I've tried Bullseye, Power Pistol, SR 4756, and Silhouette. Out of those 4 Silhouette is my favorite, with SR 4756 coming in second. I love Silhouette for it's easy metering and consistency. SR 4756 doesn't meter quite as well but it's very accurate in my pistols. The only drawback for it is that I have to use a lot to achieve the same velocity and performance as other powders.

What say you? What's your favorite?

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

mgardner

· #2 · Oct 2, 2013

WSF or Universal Clays works well and gives a nice recoil cadence which feels softer than many other powders so it seems to help my splits. I use it in the 9mm and 45 ACP for USPSA. It's very accurate too.

Teddybear

· #3 · Oct 2, 2013

My favorite has been 231 for a loooooooooooooooooong time.

SWThomas

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 2, 2013

Anyone try WST for pistol? My local GreenTop had a jug of the stuff the other day but I didn't want to buy that much and find out I don't like it.

squirrelhunter

· #5 · Oct 2, 2013

All my pistols seem to like different powder except for a couple. I like them all but VihtaVouri seems to be the first I try if possible whether it's a pistol that shoots pistol or rifle calibers. All in all between pistols and rifles I use it more than the others.

mgardner

· #6 · Oct 2, 2013

SWThomas said:
Anyone try WST for pistol? My local GreenTop had a jug of the stuff the other day but I didn't want to buy that much and find out I don't like it.

It approximates the performance of Clays. It's a fast burning powder with a snappy recoil. Works well in the 45 ACP.

SWThomas

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 3, 2013

mgardner said:
It approximates the performance of Clays. It's a fast burning powder with a snappy recoil. Works well in the 45 ACP.

Thanks for the info!

Lilysdad

· #8 · Oct 24, 2013

WST for me. I think it's great. Clean burning, measures well, and I have worked up loads for both my .45 and 9mm that use the same 4.2 grains, so I don't have to mess with my powder measure.
115 plated for the 9 and 230 RN lead for the .45.

My gun club usually has the 1lb and 4 lb containers on hand which is helpful.

pokute

· #9 · Nov 27, 2014 (Edited)

Hey guys, some of you failed to state the cartridge you were loading!

I use a few more powders than I need to, because I had to take what was available, when it was available.

Some favorites:

Bullseye for 45 ACP 5.5 grains under a 200gr SWC

Unique for 45 ACP 6.8 grains (to keep max load under 7.2 - Unique meters +/-0.4gr)

Power Pistol for 38 Special 158gr swaged ZERO brand lead bullets. 5.4 grains in a 38 special rated gun, 6.0 grains in a 357 magnum rated gun.

Power Pistol for 10mm - 8 grains under a 200gr jacketed ZERO bullet
Power Pistol for 10mm - 8.5 grains under a 180gr jacketed ZERO bullet

Unique for 44 Special - 7.5 grains under anything. Skeeter Skelton's load.

HS-6 for 45LC ar 44 Magnum moderate loads. 12 grains under anything. Easy shooting and very accurate.

Unique for 44LC and 44Magnum in STRONG guns (not model 25, 29, SAA, Taurus, New Model Vaquero, etc.) 10 grains under anything for subsonic.

2400 for MAGNUM loads in STRONG 44 magnum and Ruger 45LC - 22 grains under anything for big push. 24 grains if you know exactly what you are up to and shooting a TC, FA, Bisley Blackhawk, or Super Blackhawk.

And then you can load up any old crazy thing for a Freedom Arms 83, but you might dislocate your thumb, wrist, elbow, or shoulder if you don't know how to MANAGE strong loads.

Just my 2 cents. Any one of those loads might cripple or kill you, so use them at your own peril, no warranty, no promises, and somebody else wrote all this using my nickname, sure as hell wasn't me.

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Zippo_Guy

· #10 · Nov 27, 2014

What kind of powder/loads are you guys using for 40 S&W?

Rick

squirrelhunter

· #11 · Nov 27, 2014

If you really want to test the joints of your wrist and elbows with your 44 magnum,try some WW296 behind a 180g Hornady XTP

. I did when I first started reloading but needless to say,I didn't make many and quickly switched to a different powder and/or bigger bullet

.

squirrelhunter

· #12 · Nov 27, 2014

Zippo_Guy said:
What kind of powder/loads are you guys using for 40 S&W?

Rick

I use 3 different loads in my SR40c...

6.4g of Power Pistol behind a 180g Hornady XTP for 958 fps or

7.2g of Power Pistol behind a 155g Hornady XTP for 1,045 fps or

7.8g of Power Pistol behind a 165g Speer Gold Dot for 1,102 fps.

pokute

· #13 · Nov 28, 2014 (Edited)

squirrelhunter said:
If you really want to test the joints of your wrist and elbows with your 44 magnum,try some WW296 behind a 180g Hornady XTP . I did when I first started reloading but needless to say,I didn't make many and quickly switched to a different powder and/or bigger bullet .

No. Not going the W296/H110 route. I've heard stories about it going "peaky", and I don't want to find out first-hand if it's true. 2400 is plenty for me!

That said, I've got a Ruger 45LC Bisley coming, and I'm casting 280+ grain Keith style bullets for it - Should be possible to get them sailing along at 1200+fps with that huge case ;^)

Won't those teeny little .40 cases hold any more powder than that? Do you use a magnum primer with no powder to shoot 200gr bullets in a .40?

Seriously, I hear that some .40's will cycle a round with the bullet sticking waaaaaay out, and with healthy loads of PP behind them. Maybe you have to use 10mm magazines. I really don't know.

pokute

· #14 · Nov 28, 2014

Taking a DOJ agent to the range tomorrow to let her try some bigger stuff than her wimpy FBI friends shoot. "Ouch, J. Edgar, J. Edgar, that 10 millibeater thing hurt my little pinky!"

Vee_Kay

· #15 · Jan 26, 2015

I've used Win231/HP38 for, well since the 70's.. A really versatile powder, and a little dab will do you. It seems looking at the recipes that it usually takes a small loading, makes those 7,00 grains per pound go a little further. For my faster boolits (10mm and .357sig), I have been using Blue Dot. Nice and reliable. When there are loads in both Blue Dot and W231/HP38 it doesn't seem to have the kick or recoil, but the speeds are wonderful. Seems to be more a slow burn than an explosion. The blue dot just doesn't make as many boolits as the W231/HP38... These days, finding your favorite powder is a bit of a challenge. Seems to be drying up again.

pokute

· #16 · Jan 26, 2015

Yeah, we were seeing lots of powder for a while, now there's tons of rifle powder, but no pistol powder.

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